I like the History Channel. C-SPAN, however, can be even better. Today on C-SPAN I saw Dennis Ross speaking about the Iraq Study Group (ISG) report. Next, I saw Mahmoud Abbas calling the ISG report -- along with the EU's new Middle East peace plan, "the silver lining" in all that's happening.

Ross was former envoy to the Middle East for both the Bush Sr. Administration and the Clinton Administration. If I recall, Ross was also quite a good basketball player. So, I like listening to his opinions. Of course, because of Ross' experience as a Middle East envoy too.

Although it was today that I saw Ross speak, the C-SPAN program was recorded last Tuesday. Today the big news is about Palestinian President Abbas calling for early national elections. That's why I found something that Ross said Tuesday extremely interesting. Ross said the ideas in the ISG report wouldn't work because Abbas wasn't willing to confront Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. "If he was", Ross said, "he would have already done it."

Here's where Ross said what is interesting. He said what needs to be done is for someone to ask Abbas, "What does it take to make you do it [confront Haniyeh]?" This brings us to today's news. It looks like someone may have done just what Ross suggested. Today Abbas confronted Haniyeh in a bold way Read about it here. Abbas surprised everyone by calling for early elections.

Now I was eager to hear what Abbas had to say -- to find out what made him do it. In the first part of his speech, Abbas talked about the difficult realities that they and the Palestinian people were facing. He explained, "We were militants. We have become beggars." If you recall, the international community cut off aid to the Palestinians after Hamas won the elections and, since then, has stubbornly refused to recognize Israel or prior agreements.

Abbas went on to detail how all his attempt to negotiate a unity government with Hamas failed. After that, Abbas reminded his listeners of the change that happened at Oslo. He said, for the first time, Israel and the international community recognized Yasser Arafat's PLO as the only representative of the Palestinian people. After that, Abbas explained, "We have to remember, there are three sides -- the Arabs, the Europeans and the Americans." From there he discussed what he called the Arab Initiative. He said what was good about the Arab plan is that it included the right of return issue. Then he said what I think may have given him what he wanted to confront Hamas. He said the "silver lining" in all these things is the EU's new peace plan, and the Baker/Hamilton plan. He said, for the first time, a European and an American plan include the issue of right of return.

No, I suspect there may be something more in those two plans that Abbas called "the silver lining." And, whatever it is, it was enough to make Abbas want to do it -- make him want to finally confront Hamas.

See why I like C-SPAN?